Love, Devotion, and Longing Quotes

“Even though true love is very different to falling in love, nevertheless, we mustn’t stop the fall of falling in love. There’s a certain surrender to falling in love. We have to let go of something of ourselves to fall in love with another person. When it becomes clear that love is not maintainable under the same belief system that made us fall in love, we can reassess our course. After the fall of falling in love, there is a steep climb back up again but we can make sure that we are climbing in the right direction. And that makes all the difference.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“Truly loving people are uncommon. They are as uncommon as awake people. Our success in learning about love will directly correlate to our level of happiness. It is certainly worth persevering with the learning process which involves a great deal of honesty, introspection, and forgiveness. Even if we are the only one in the relationship on that path, it doesn’t matter. We will still be blessed with our own happiness and isn’t that the bottom line of what we all want? Our first responsibility is to create a happy life for ourselves. If the other person in the relationship learns to also value love, honesty, and forgiveness then the relationship will transform, usually slowly, into a strong connection which is good for the couple and others alike.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“All significant relationships have a price. It’s not that relationships are a sacrifice. After all, who wants a life of sacrifice? It is more a matter of priorities. We can’t do everything in life and we can’t be with everyone in life. In choosing what we will do and with whom, we automatically make priorities. If something is at the top of our list then other things have to come second or third or last.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“Intention is everything. Is there love in what a person says or is there underlying ill-will? Intention will determine the destined outcome of any situation. The same 'kind' words from one person can be a healing balm and from another, a sweet poison. The same 'harsh' words from one person can be malice and from another, save a life. The intention behind the words, action, or thought is always what makes it weak or strong, effective or ineffective, healing or harmful.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“Even if our life circumstances take a while to reflect our inner decisions, once decisions are made, everything in our life will move in the direction of aligning with that.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“Being popular or not, having company or being alone are not issues of concern for the developed soul.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“It is our deepest hurts which have the power to help and heal us. What else carries an internal fire big enough to force us forwards? What else has the momentum to wake us up? What else has enough pain to make us long for something better? What else will drive us into the waiting arms of that beautiful, invisible life-force which yearns to help us? What else will teach us to feel the love which has no betrayal; the love which seeks only good?”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“The greatest gift we can give the world is our own evolution.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“A balanced, inner calmness radiates from a peaceful centre. It neither craves others’ approval nor rejects others’ presence. It neither pulls towards nor pushes away. It has a reverent attitude towards life and all its inhabitants. It has compassion for the inevitable weaknesses of the human condition. It has nothing to gain from others’ approval. It is not self-seeking. It is not needy, grabbing or manipulative. It embodies gracious respect for everything beautiful including other human souls. It has a lively freedom, a happy composure, a quick and engaging wit, and an intelligent, interested, and interesting mental attitude.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“Spiritual progress is inevitably accompanied by better human circumstances, in one way or another.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“A positive side effect of working on the meaning of our problems is that we are forced to give up blaming. Nothing could be more beneficial to our spiritual progress. We refrain from blaming our bodies, hereditary factors, economic conditions, our partner, our parents, our upbringing, our boss or any other person. Knowing that our problems have meanings does not mean that we now blame ourselves for our miserable condition instead of other people. It means we understand that our problems are telling us something is not spiritually correct in our thinking. Without reproach or guilt, we understand that we just don’t understand enough yet. However, we are going to. That is why we are students on the spiritual path.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“What are our problems telling us? Physical symptoms and other problems have corresponding thoughts. If we are able to understand these corresponding thoughts, we will have uncovered the meaning of our problems. All problems – physical, mental, emotional, experiential – are reduced to the thoughts which essentially make up the problem. Far from being a handicap, our problems are our guideposts. They point out the many ways in which our thoughts are founded on unhelpful, incorrect, and harmful concepts. Once the meaning of our problems is understood, we can spiritually correct our thinking. This change in thought will inevitably bring some sort of healing. Healing will manifest in a more beautiful, calm, healthy, loving, and beneficial life.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“It becomes apparent that it would be impossible to feel alone as we are intimately connected to a thriving life-force.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing

“Deeply considering uplifting ideas raises our consciousness from the realm of the material problem into the powerful and harmonious realm of the spiritual. It is what a dedicated spiritual practice is all about. We give up our own ideas, hurts, fears, and grudges and concede to the Greater. We expand and we heal. It becomes apparent that it would be impossible to feel alone as we are intimately connected to a thriving life-force. It is everything, yet, it is nothing. It grows silently and steadily. We are already it and It is already us. We continue to go forward with our spiritual practices and these practices increasingly envelop us in loveliness. We come out the other side as a transparent being; nameless but with the mark of God.”
― Donna Goddard, Love, Devotion, and Longing